


A Little Too Close To You

by ProbablyVoldemort



Series: You Give Me Akumas [12]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bodyswap, F/M, Gen, Nino and Adrien Swap Bodies, Photo Shoots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 20:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9342242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProbablyVoldemort/pseuds/ProbablyVoldemort
Summary: Nino and Adrien are at a photo shoot when an akuma attacks - and then suddenly it's Nino in front of the camera.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is a prompt fill, but I'm not taking any more prompts at the moment. Enjoy!

**Anonymous said: Is a friendship fic allowed? If so, then Nino and Adrien friendship for three. eighteen, or twenty, please! :)**

**18: If anything explodes, I’m leaving.**

_(Hey!  Thanks for the prompt!  I picked number 18, so here’s some platonic Adrino for you!  Enjoy!)_

 

Nino was starting to grow on Gabriel Agreste.  At least, he liked to think so, and evidence seemed to point in that direction.

It’d been almost three months since the four year ban on so much as speaking to Adrien had been lifted—not that either Nino or Adrien had actually obeyed the ban any more than Nino just not coming over to Adrien’s house.  It was a pretty stupid ban—and now, not only was he allowed to speak to, look at, and touch Adrien, he was also allowed in the Agreste Mansion.

So much had Nino grown on Adrien’s father that he was now actively not-kicked-out of photoshoots.

Shocker, right?  Honestly, it was a development Nino had never anticipated.

But that’s where he was right now, chatting with Adrien at the snack table while the photographers got set up for the next round of pictures and M. Agreste’s disdained stare bore into the back of his head.

So maybe Gabriel Agreste didn’t actually like Nino, but he didn’t like anyone.  Honestly, he tolerated Chloe barely any more than he tolerated Nino, and Alya was at about the same level as him.  The only person Adrien’s father actually seemed to like was Marinette—which was good, since Adrien was head over heels with the girl and she’d probably appreciate her inevitably future father-in-law actually liking her.  Now all that was needed was for either Marinette or Adrien to stop being so ridiculous and actually ask the other out on a date.

But back to the shoot.

It was going well, if Nino’s limited knowledge of the workings of photoshoots was anything to go off of.  At least, it seemed to be going faster than any of the other ones he’d been at.  Maybe it was the fact that Gabriel Agreste was actually legitimately there in person bossing everyone around.  Maybe Adrien was just having a really good face day.  Maybe the planets had aligned in honour of getting this shoot done with enough time for them to get out to see the new Star Wars movie with Alya and Marinette that night.

Honestly, nobody really knew the answer and nobody probably ever would.  But the point was, the shoot was going really well and they were ahead of schedule.

Until the akuma attacked.

It came out of nowhere, as Nino and Adrien were eating grossly healthy snacks, and started zapping people.

And they couldn’t get out of the way in time.

Nino was thrown to the ground, and he was pretty sure he blacked out for a moment.  He groaned, pushing himself up and wobbling a bit as he stood.  He didn’t hurt, so that was good.  He didn’t feel like worshipping anybody he didn’t feel like worshipping before, so that was good too.  Everything seemed good.  The zap hadn’t seemed to do anything.

But something still seemed off.  Everything around him seemed slightly taller than before.

But that didn’t make any sense.  Why would an akuma have the power to make someone shorter?  And not even significantly shorter, just maybe a couple of inches?  That was an even worse power than the pigeon guy from years ago.

Nino sighed, glancing around.  The akuma had disappeared, and people were standing back up from where they’d fallen.  Nothing looked wrong.  Nothing until…

“Hey, Nino, man.  You okay?”

Why did that voice sound familiar?  He turned to look and screamed.  There, a couple feet away from him, was…himself?  That was definitely himself.  There was a second Nino pulling himself up off the ground.

At his scream, Other Nino turned to face him and joined in the screaming.  They stood there for a good two or three minutes, just screaming at each other.

Real Nino stopped screaming first and reached out to clap a hand across Other Nino’s mouth, frowning.  Why had Other Nino gotten to keep his actual height?  Why was Real Nino the only one who shrunk?  He just barely came up to Other Nino’s chin.

But that wasn’t important, really.

“Why is there two of me?” he asked, removing his hand once Other Nino had stopped screaming.  He frowned again, clutching his throat.  What was wrong with his voice?

Other Nino shook his head, eyes wide.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “The akuma must have copied me.  Wait!”  His face paled, and he glanced around.  “Shit!  Where’s Nino?”

Real Nino’s eyebrows drew together.  “What are you talking about?” he asked, and Other Nino froze, staring at him.  “I’m right here.”

Other Nino blinked, studying Real Nino’s face.  “ _You_ are Nino?” he confirmed, and Real Nino nodded.

Other Nino stared for a moment longer before raising his hands in front of his face.  His eyes widened as he flipped them back and forth, feeling around in his pockets before pulling out his phone.  He held it in front of his face, paling as whatever he saw seemed to confirm his thoughts.

“Shit.”

Real Nino never actually got to figure out what Other Nino thought was wrong, since suddenly he was being swarmed by set crew.  The men and woman started fussing over him, and he was too confused to fight back as they fluffed his hair and threw powder at his face.

“Adrien.”  He watched Gabriel Agreste approach at a brisk walk, something that could have possibly been concern making a tiny change in his expression.  He waved his hand and the set crew left Real Nino to breathe.  “I saw you get hit.  Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Other Nino answered half-heartedly, though Real Nino noticed he was still engrossed in whatever was on his phone, poking his cheeks and turning his head.

Gabriel didn’t grace him with a glance.  “I wasn’t talking to you,” he said, stepping closer to Real Nino and scanning his body.  “Adrien, would you answer me?  Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, dude,” Real Nino said.  “But I don’t know why you’re calling me Adrien.”

And then Gabriel Agreste did something no one would have ever thought he would have done in a million years.

Gabriel Agreste actually looked confused.

Other Nino sighed, stepping closer.  “I’m Adrien, Father,” he said, and Nino snapped his head to stare at the other him.  “The akuma must swap people’s bodies.  I’m fine.”

But that made even less sense than an akuma that made people a couple inches shorter.

“Why would an akuma have powers to turn people into me?” he wondered aloud, still staring at Other Ni—Adrien.

Adrien rolled his eyes, grabbing one of Nino’s hands and moving it in front of his face.  Nino screamed again, turning the hand over and over in front of his face.

“Why the fuck would the akuma turn me white?”  What was this akuma?  Seriously.  It turned Adrien into him, and it made him shorter and white?  What was the point of any of this?

Adrien sighed again, holding his phone—Nino’s phone, he realized—in front of Nino’s face.  And Nino screamed again.

“I’m Adrien?” he asked, snatching the phone and poking at his face.  His reflection moved with him.  “What the fuck?”

“Language,” Gabriel Agreste interrupted, arms crossing in front of him.  “I do not care if you are not my son, M. Lahiffe, but that kind of language will not be coming out of my son’s mouth.”

Nino resisted the urge to snort.  Did Adrien’s father really have no idea the kind of things his son said daily?

“This photoshoot must be finished by the end of the day,” Gabriel continued, glancing between Nino and Adrien.  “Since you’re out of commission, Adrien, I suppose we’ll have to have M. Lahiffe finish the shoot in your place.  We’ll compensate you, of course, but hopefully the akuma will be defeated quickly and Adrien can get back to modelling.”  He glanced behind him for a moment.  “We’ll resume shooting in ten minutes.  Adrien, would you go over the basics so your friend won’t completely embarrass us?”

He walked off without waiting for an answer, and Nino gaped after him.  They wanted him to model?  _Him_?  Did they realize how big a disaster this was going to be?

Adrien just grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away from the snack table and away from anyone nearby.

“I need my ring,” he said, hand held out in front of him.  Nino blinked at his friend.  It was so weird hearing himself speak, watching his body act like Adrien.

But wait.  Why did he need his ring?

“Why?”

Adrien sighed, and went to run his hand through his hair only to knock his baseball cap off.  He blinked at the hat on the ground and stooped to pick it up.  “I just need it.”

This was sounding highly suspicious of…something.  Nino wasn’t sure what, but he couldn’t remember ever seeing his friend without this ring, and this was his chance to end his wondering—not that he’d really ever wondered before, but the point was still there.

“Why do you ‘just need it’?” 

He used air quotes and Adrien scowled, shoving the hat back on his head.  His friend glanced around, making sure no one was within hearing distance and muttered something that sounded like “she’s going to kill me”.

“I’m Chat Noir,” he finally said, voice low and eyes darting around.  “The ring makes me Chat Noir, and I need it so I can go fight the akuma so we can switch back.”

Nino stared at his friend.  While it was true that Adrien kind of looked like Chat Noir—not right now, obviously, but usually—there was no way his friend was telling the truth.  “Why do you actually need it?”

Adrien just levelled him with a glare, and it was so weird getting glared at by yourself.  “I’m telling the truth.  I’m Chat Noir, and I need that ring, Nino.”

He contemplated it for a few more moments.  There was really no reason for Adrien to lie, was there?

“You’re actually Chat Noir?”  Adrien nodded too hard and his glasses almost slid off his nose.  Wait—if Adrien was wearing Nino’s glasses then that meant that he wasn’t wearing any.  He felt his face to confirm it.  “Dude!  I can see!  Like, naturally!  This is so weird.”

“It’s a miracle.”  Adrien rolled his eyes, punching his friend in the arm.  “Now, come on.  Ring.  Give.  Now.”

Nino pulled his hand to his chest, shaking his head.  “No way,” he said.  “I’m keeping this.  There’s no way I’m letting you take my body out to fight.  I don’t want all this”—he gestured at himself, or rather his body that Adrien was currently in—“getting messed up when the akuma punches you.”

Adrien narrowed his eyes.  “Seriously, Nino?” he asked, crossing his arms.  “The Cure would fix anything that happened to you.  This would be so much easier.”

But Nino just shook his head.  “Ladybug can handle it,” he pointed out.  “My body is not fighting.  If she’s still fighting the thing after the shoot’s done, I’ll go help.”

Adrien stared at his friend for a few long minutes, mouth gaping open, before he shook his head.  “Fine,” he agreed, circling Nino.  “Then we’d better go over some pointers so we can get this shoot over with.  We’re almost done, by the way.”  He reached Nino’s back and yanked his shoulders backward.  “Don’t slouch.  You’ll ruin my posture and Father with be upset.”  When Nino’s back seemed to be at the correct uncomfortably upright position, Adrien returned to facing him. 

“Show me ‘pining for the girl you love but can’t have’.”  Nino worked his face into something he hoped was accurate while trying to keep his back straight.  Adrien sighed.  “No, that’s more ‘I ate a lot of chocolate and now I’m constipated’.  I’m looking for pining, Nino.  Like this.”  Adrien demonstrated, and Nino wasn’t even aware his face could look like that.  He tried again, attempting to mirror the look on his—Adrien’s?  This was so confusing—face.

Adrien dropped the look, running his hand over his face and probably smearing fingerprints all over his glasses.  “We’re gonna need more than ten minutes.”

*********

It took too long, way longer than it would have taken Adrien to take, but after what seemed like hours of holding his body in uncomfortable positions and being told to stop looking so constipated and to stop slouching, the shoot was finally finished.  Nino was going to have a big paycheque coming next week, and he and Adrien were finally able to escape.

They ducked into the closest alley and Adrien pulled something black and vaguely cat shaped out of his bag.

“Nino, Plagg.  Plagg, Nino,” he said quickly, and the thing actually moved so Nino screamed for what felt like the hundredth time today.

The cat thing—Plagg—laughed.  “Oh, god, kid,” he said, glancing between Nino and Adrien.  “Don’t tell me you got yourselves switched up.”

“Well, we did,” Adrien confirmed.  “So since Nino won’t give me the ring, he’s gonna be Chat today.”

Plagg sighed, hovering close to Nino’s face.  “Did he bring me camembert?”

The thing didn’t seem to be talking to Nino, and he didn’t know what camembert had to do with anything anyway, but Adrien answered with a sigh.

“The bag was full.  If you didn’t eat it, that’s your problem.”

Plagg rolled his eyes.  “Fine.”  He stared at Nino a moment longer.  “All you gotta do, kid, is say ‘Plagg, Claws Out’ and you’ll become Chat Noir.”

“Plagg, Claws Out?” Nino repeated, staring past the cat thing at Adrien.  “But why—”

He screamed again as he was bathed in green light—that felt like it was stripping him naked what the actual hell?—and closed his eyes until it stopped.  He peeled them open slowly, staring at Adrien with his raised eyebrow and a look far too smug to belong on Nino’s face, and then lifted his hands.

His hands that were clad in black leather and had claws.

“What the hell?”

Adrien rolled his eyes.  “Why are you surprised?” he wondered.  “You realize the point of this was to turn into Chat Noir?” Nino didn’t say anything and only shrugged sheepishly as he realized that, yeah, that was kind of the point.

He listened intently as Adrien explained the basics, like how to use the baton and how to not use Cataclysm on the first thing he saw because he’d only be able to use it once.

“Ladybug should be able to help,” Adrien said as he finished his explanations.  “Let her know you’re not me, and she’ll make sure you know what to do.”

Nino nodded, staring at the baton in his hands.  “I got this,” he said, though whether it was to reassure himself or Adrien, he didn’t know.  “But if anything explodes, I’m leaving.”

Adrien gaped at him for a moment.  “This is an akuma attack, Nino!” he hissed.  “It’s basically guaranteed that there are going to be explosions!  Just give me the ring, and I’ll go fight.”

Nino shook his head, taking a few steps back.  “My body is not fighting,” he repeated.  He shot the baton at the ground and rose into the sky before Adrien could protest further.

This was going great!  It was easy!  As long as he didn’t look down, he was going to be fine.  Now what was it that Adrien said?  Lean forward and he’ll go back down?

He leaned forward, and shot back towards the ground.  He aimed for a rooftop that would take him closer to where the akuma would probably be.

He was doing this!  He was actually being Chat Noir!  He was—

—crashing face first into a brick wall.

*********

It didn’t take him too long to reach the akuma after that, and he only fell of six roofs, so he was doing pretty good.  He spotted Ladybug crouched on a roof, staring at the akuma as it rampaged in the street.  That was probably a good place to start.  Let her know he probably wasn’t going to be much help.

Ladybug spun around as he landed beside her, her shoulders deflating in obvious relief.  “Oh good,” she said, a smile spreading across her face.  “You’re here.  Sorry, Chat Noir, but I haven’t really been making any progress.”  She grimaced.  “Like, at all.”

Nino felt his heart stop.  This didn’t sound good.  “What do you mean?”

“I’m not Ladybug.”  She shrugged sheepishly, her smile awkward.  “I mean, I am Ladybug right now, but not normally.  We got switched.”

Nino groaned turning to bang his forehead against the chimney they were hiding behind.  “Great,” he muttered.  “We’re gonna die and Hawkmoth is gonna win and Paris is gonna explode and it’s gonna be all our fault.”

Not Ladybug grabbed his arm, pulling him away before he did serious damage to Adrien’s perfect face.  “What are you talking about?” she demanded.  “Mar—I mean, Ladybug said you could help, that you’d be able to direct me.”

Nino laughed.  “Yeah, I mean, Chat Noir would definitely have been a big help.”  He swung his arms wide and grinned at her.  “But I’m not Chat Noir.”

Not Ladybug stared at him, looking less than impressed.  A crash came from the akuma down in the street, and they both flinched.  Not Ladybug let out a self-deprecating laugh and looked like she’d rather pound her face into the chimney, too, and leveled him with a serious gaze.

“We’re fucked.”

*********

Meanwhile, Adrien watched Nino fly off, cringing as he vaulted himself into a wall, a growing sense of apprehension in his stomach.  He started walking in the direction his body had disappeared in, and Ladybug swung overhead after not too long.  That was good, at least.  Nino could colossally screw up, but Marinette would make sure everything was fine.

“Nino!”

It took him a few moments too long to register that someone was calling for him, and he turned around and grinned as Alya sprinted up.

“Hey, Alya,” he said, but Alya shook her head.

“Not Alya, actually.”  She was craning her neck, as though she was trying to pick out where the superheroes had ended up.  “I should really be getting to the akuma though.  She’ll kill me if I don’t get this filmed.”  She sighed, pushing her glasses back up her nose and seemed to realize she hadn’t actually told him who she was.  “I’m Marinette.”

And, just like that, all of Adrien’s hopes of ever getting his body back went out the window.

“Shit.”

Her eyes snapped back to him, an eyebrow raised.  “What?” she asked, hands planting themselves on her hips defensively.  “Were you hoping for a mid-akuma-attack make out or something?  I’m sorry, Nino, but it’s not happening.”

Adrien shook his head, running his fingers through his hair and almost knocking the annoying glasses off his face.  “I told him he’d be fine once Ladybug showed up,” he muttered, and Alya’s—Marinette’s?  This was confusing—head cocked to the side, realization slowly dawning on her face.  “But if you’re Alya, that means that Alya is Ladybug.”  He grimaced at Marinette.  “This isn’t looking good, my Lady.”

Marinette stared at him with wide eyes.  “You’re Adrien,” she whispered, and Adrien nodded.  “Shit.”

They took off at a sprint in the direction of the akuma. 

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus:
> 
> “Why didn’t you switch out your earrings?”  
> “Really? You’re asking me why I couldn’t convince Alya Cesaire, who has been dreaming of being a superhero her entire life, to give up the earrings?”  
> “Good point.”  
> “Why didn’t you get Nino to give you the ring? I’d have thought he’d be easy to convince, and plus a ring switch is way more sanitary than wearing someone else’s earrings.”  
> “Apparently he didn’t want me messing up all this” *pauses to gesture at his face* “by getting punched by an akuma. And then he transforms and first thing he does is fling himself into a brick wall.”  
> “We’re so screwed.”
> 
>  
> 
> Let me know what you think!  
> Comments are life and asks are golden!  
> Come follow me on Tumblr at probably-voldemort :)


End file.
